Delta Air Lines launched its first service to Australia this week with a daily Los Angeles-Sydney 777-200LR flight. DL joins United Airlines, Qantas and V Australia on the route. AirTran Airways launched service from Allentown to Orlando (four-times-weekly) and Fort Lauderdale (thrice-weekly) and will launch four-times-weekly Flint-Fort Lauderdale service Nov. 4. It will resume once-weekly seasonal Flint-Tampa flights from Oct. 6, and re-launch Akron Canton service to Fort Lauderdale (four-times-weekly) and Fort Myers (five-times-weekly, increasing to daily Nov. 18) from Nov.
AirBridgeCargo Airlines added Milan Malpensa to its network, launching twice-weekly 747F flights to/from Moscow Sheremetyevo. ABC already operated 31 weekly flights to/from Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo linking Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Budapest and Zaragoza with Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo Narita and Hong Kong ( ATW, May 2009). The Volga-Dnepr scheduled services subsidiary also operates flights to Krasnoyarsk. ABC appointed Kales GSA as its general sales agent in Italy.
Clear, which offered passengers the opportunity to speed through designated security lanes at 18 US airports for a $200 annual fee, abruptly ceased operations in June. Parent Verified Identity Pass said on its website that it "has been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations" and that it "will continue to secure [customer data] and will take appropriate steps to delete the information." However, it said it could not issue refunds "because of its financial condition."
As passenger traffic continues a downward trend, airports must deal with the immediate impact while not losing sight of the need to plan for long-term growth. That was the consensus at the ACI-Europe Annual Assembly and Conference in Manchester in June.
World airport traffic remained "stubbornly low" in May, according to Airports Council International, but there are indications that the downturn may be bottoming out. Airports participating in the association's passenger and freight "flash reports" recorded an 8% decrease in passenger traffic compared to the same month in 2008, with international traffic down 9.3% and domestic down 6.8%. Through the first five months of the year, total traffic was off 7.5% compared to last year while the rolling 12-month decline was 5%.
Nearly half the proceeds--about $59.5 million--of St. Louis's new $125 million bond issue will pay for the next phase of Lambert Field's Airport Experience terminal and concourse modernization program, continuing through 2012.
After spending $1 million over the past year in an airline incentive program that offered a 75% reduction in landing fees at Myrtle Beach Airport, officials decided to extend it through mid-2010 in an effort to protect the current domestic air service program. The fee structure will continue for a nine-month period starting in September.
ACI-Europe launched an Airport Carbon Accreditation program that will assess and recognize airports' efforts to manage and reduce CO2 emissions within their control.
Long Beach Airport can move forward with planned terminal improvements following a ruling from a California District Court in Orange County that confirmed an environmental impact study conducted by the City of Long Beach was adequate. The Long Beach Parent Teachers Assn. brought a lawsuit alleging that the report did not consider the noise impact of airport operations. LGB drew attention in April when JetBlue CEO Dave Barger publicly stated that he was considering pulling service unless there were terminal improvements.
Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Changi Airport formally launched a new corporate structure July 1 that will manage and oversee airport operations. The restructuring and privatization of the airport first was announced in August 2007. The CAAS group will focus on development of the air hub and aviation industry in Singapore as well as provision of air navigation services. Changi Airport Group will manage and operate the airport. Luton Airport announced that three new carriers launched service there in the last three months.
AirBaltic will launch service from Riga to Warsaw (daily on Sept. 17) and Pskov (twice-weekly on Sept. 1) aboard F50s. Singapore Airlines will add a fourth daily Singapore-Manila 777 flight on July 10. Qatar Airways will launch thrice-weekly Doha--Melbourne on Dec. 6 aboard a 777-200LR, becoming daily with the delivery of another -200LR in early 2010. Safi Airways launched thrice-weekly Kabul-Frankfurt aboard a 767-200ER.
